Strange as it may seem, it's tough getting local kids and local press on board with what SFR is doing (or has already done.) But thanks to the help of Storm Davis, Prolyphic & Reanimator's "The Ugly Truth" received a nice write up in this week's Providence Phoenix

Providence hip-hop ain’t what you think it is. Unless you think it’s exhilarating, kickass, and relentlessly literate. Then, of course, you’d be right. Anchored by the talented posse Poorly Drawn People and flanked by the growing stable at Strange Famous Records, home of the heroic Sage Francis, the hip-hop scene is happening in what seems like a bigger way every day in these parts. There’s a significant movement, a communal strength in numbers, and solidification of an artistic aesthetic. Things are happening. You just have to hear it.

You can start with Prolyphic and Reanimator’s new album, The Ugly Truth. It’s a blissed-out merger of Prolyphic’s smart rap/poetry and Reanimator’s perfectly complementary beats and motifs. On “Artist Goes Pop,” the voice, amid a backdrop of keys and drums, talks about what it’s like onstage: “I stand in position and abandon inhibitions, start dancing for the critics with the camera as my witness/Watch close, cuz in a minute pop goes . . . my heart explodes into a thousand downloads.”

The Northeast hip-hop scene might not be the ideal place to perpetrate rhymes, but Prolyphic and the crew constantly defend their right to stay at home. On “Survived Another Winter,” he and friends Sage Francis, B. Dolan, and Alias rap about resisting the ride West (“I see their bandwagon passing me by while I was dragging my boycott.”) On “The Ugly Truth,” Prolyphic expands on his choice to remain local: “It’s like I roll this stone and I don’t complain/’Cuz this is what I chose, got no one else to blame/Except myself, for putting my life on the line, and soul on the shelf/I’ll take it to the grave ’cuz I show no tells.” Reanimator’s backing tracks are unpredictable and sweet, smooth and emphatic, without disrupting the flow. Preview it at: myspace.com/prolyphicandreanimator

Sun May 11, 2008 1:37 pm

Charlie Foxtrot

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 1379
Location: Rochester, NY

Fuck NYC!

Providence is real east coast hip hop!

Seriously, "Survived Another Winter" best shot in the east coast west coast war yet.